the intention that resides in the heart, once coupled with the ability to act, necessarily results in carrying out the intended deed; and no one sets off on a distant campaign without first laying in the proper provisions.

Along the same lines, when ʿUmar consulted ʿUthmān about a woman who had confessed to adultery, ʿUthmān said,

“I see her speaking about it with the naïveté of someone who does not know it is forbidden.”

Seeing her proclaim what she had done openly and recount it without any misgiving, he concluded that she did not believe the act to be unlawful, blameworthy, or punishable—and ʿUmar, ʿAlī, and others agreed with him on that.

A truthful, righteous man is marked by the light of his sincerity and the brightness of his face, traits by which he is recognized; the lying, wicked individual is likewise known. The longer a person lives, the more this effect shows itself: a man may be handsome in his youth, but if he belongs to the people of transgression and persists in it, an ugliness born of his inner state will become evident on his face at life’s end—and the converse is equally true.

It is narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said: “A good deed brings a light in the heart, radiance on the face, strength in the body, abundance in provision, and love in the hearts of people; while an evil deed brings darkness in the heart, blackness on the face, weakness in the body, and hatred in the hearts of people.”

A man, moreover, may be one who does not deliberately lie, yet he entertains convictions